Texans’ Cushing plays hero with key interception against Chargers

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SAN DIEGO —Brian Cushing strode into the Texans’ locker room followed by his number.

“56! Hey, 56!,” shouted a teammate.

Cushing smiled. But his unbreakable focus remained, and he quietly kept walking forward, soon joining the rest of a buzzing team that had overcome a 21-point third-quarter deficit to pull out a season-opening 31-28 victory against the Chargers on Monday at Qualcomm Stadium.

Quarterback Matt Schaub keyed the Texans’ turnaround. But a defense that played two completely different halves guided the change, which was highlighted by Cushing picking off San Diego QB Philip Rivers and returning the interception 18 yards for a game-changing touchdown with 9 minutes, 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

“I’m really excited I was able to make a play like that for the team. … I just felt like it was ours to win at the end,” said Cushing, whose pick-six was the first interception return for a touchdown of his five-year career.

Big change

The Texans’ defense was first-half losers. After all of the team’s confident preseason chatter, there was no initial punch, no action and no life.

Rivers? A 10th-year quarterback who had one of the roughest years of his career in 2012 temporarily looked reborn, via a dynamic Chargers offense and missing-in-action Texans defense.

“We were just playing awful in the first half,” Cushing said. “We were missing tackles. We weren’t getting off the field on third down. We just had to man up.”

All systems go

Jumping out to a 21-7 first-half lead, the Chargers averaged 5.2 rushing yards on 14 carries, while Rivers connected on eight of 14 passes for 112 yards, three touchdowns and a 122.6 rating.

The start of the third quarter only got worse. Rivers hit wide receiver Malcom Floyd for a 47-yard connection down the right sideline on San Diego’s first offensive play of the period.

Soon, it was 28-7 Chargers and a Texans defense that tied for ninth out of 32 teams last season in average points allowed (20.7) had been outgamed, outmaneuvered and outmanned by a revamped San Diego offense that entered Monday surrounded by nothing but question marks.

The Chargers were 5-for-8 on third-down attempts in the first half and 3-for-3 in the red zone. Set up by a Texans offense that outgained San Diego 220-173 in the initial two quarters but recorded only one scoring drive, Rivers utilized six receivers while mixing short-range passes and crossing routes with occasional deep outs.

Quiet start for Watt

Through three quarters, Cushing was tied for second on the team in tackles (four), including three solo. But Watt was silent, recording just one tackle and two quarterback hits, failing to make a difference while going against rookie right tackle D.J. Fluker and regular extra attention.

Then the Texans’ defense found life. Watt and Cushing upped their attacks, with Watt recording a tackle for loss and pass deflection in the same series early during the fourth quarter.

And with less than 10 minutes to go, the Texans’ new $56 million man proved why he’s the heart of his 11-man unit.

A drive that began at San Diego’s 13-yard line after a 58-yard Shane Lechler punt turned into instant disaster for the Chargers.

On first-and-10, Rivers faced quick pressure by Texans outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus. Throwing out of the shotgun and dealing with a pocket that immediately collapsed, Rivers tosssed a pass to Danny Woodhead that never arrived. Cushing dove, captured the ball, rolled upward and rambled into the end zone for the tying touchdown.

“It took him a while to get in the end zone once he got on his feet — we’re giving him a lot of grief for that,” Schaub joked.

Added Cushing: “I felt like I was in slow motion. That ball kind of took the wind out of me.”

Final push

Down 28-7 with 10:42 left in the third quarter, the Texans ripped off 21 unanswered points to suddenly tie the game and held San Diego’s offense to just nine net yards in the final period. Watt, Cushing and a much-hyped defense were invisible for the first half. But then Watt woke up, Cushing changed the game in one play and the tight, shaky Chargers couldn’t hold on.

The defense added stops on the Chargers’ next two series, with the second giving the Texans possession for Schaub’s winning drive.

“We just didn’t finish it,” San Diego coach Mike McCoy said. “It comes down to not finishing a football game.”